The Thirty Years' War, 1618-1648

By Samuel Rawson Gardiner

The Thirty Years' War, 1618-1648 by Samuel Rawson Gardiner is a work of historical significance. A vivid and riveting account of one of Europe's most catastrophic religious conflicts, the epic Catholic-Protestant battles that killed at least 40% of Germany's population. The work's literary style transforms it from a dry history to a dramatic and captivating story, beginning with an explanation of the beginnings of the conflict and how these disagreements spun out of control into what was perhaps Europe's most catastrophic war at the time. Samuel Rawson Gardiner (1829-1902), an English historian specializing in seventeenth-century European history, wrote it. He also taught contemporary history at King's College London, where he earned the most recognition for his studies of the English Civil War period.

• Language: English
• Publisher: DigiCat
• Release date: Nov 21, 2022
• ISBN: 8596547419396

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Samuel Rawson Gardiner

The Thirty Years' War, 1618-1648

EAN 8596547419396

DigiCat, 2022

Contact: [e-mail]

Table of Contents

PREFACE.

THE THIRTY YEARS' WAR.

CHAPTER I. CAUSES OF THE THIRTY YEARS' WAR.

Section I. — Political Institutions of Germany.

Section II. — Protestantism in Germany.

Section III. — Reaction against Protestantism.

Section IV. — Three Parties and Three Leaders.

CHAPTER II. THE BOHEMIAN REVOLUTION.

Section I. — The House of Austria and its Subjects.

Section II. — The Revolution at Prague.

Section III. — The War in Bohemia.

Section IV. — Ferdinand on his Defence.

CHAPTER III. IMPERIALIST VICTORIES IN BOHEMIA AND THE PALATINATE.

Section I. — The Attack upon Frederick.

Section II. — The War in the Upper Palatinate.

Section III. — Frederick's Allies.

Section IV. — The Fight for the Lower Palatinate.

CHAPTER IV. MANSFELD AND CHRISTIAN IN NORTH GERMANY.

Section I. — Mansfeld's March into the Netherlands.

Section II. — Christian of Brunswick in Lower Saxony.

Section III. — Danger of the Lower Saxon Circle.

Section IV. — England and France.

Section V. — Rise of Richelieu.

CHAPTER V. INTERVENTION OF THE KING OF DENMARK.

Section I. — Christian IV. and Gustavus Adolphus.

Section II. — English Diplomacy.

Section III. — Wallenstein's Armament.

Section IV. — Defeat of Mansfeld and Christian IV.

CHAPTER VI. STRALSUND AND ROCHELLE.

Section I. — Fresh Successes of Wallenstein.

Section II. — Resistance to Wallenstein in the Empire.

Section III. — The Siege of Stralsund.

Section IV. — The Siege of Rochelle.

CHAPTER VII. THE EDICT OF RESTITUTION.

Section I. — Oppression of the Protestants.

Section II. — French Intervention in Italy.

Section III. — Wallenstein deprived of his Command.

Section IV. — The Swedes establish themselves on the Coast of the Baltic.

Section V. — The Fall of Magdeburg.

CHAPTER VIII. THE VICTORIES OF GUSTAVUS ADOLPHUS.

Section I. — Alliance between the Swedes and the Saxons.

Section II. — The Battle of Breitenfeld.

Section III. — March of Gustavus into South Germany.

Section IV. — Wallenstein's Restoration to Command.

Section V. — The Struggle between Gustavus and Wallenstein.

Section VI. — The Battle of Lützen.

CHAPTER IX. THE DEATH OF WALLENSTEIN AND THE TREATY OF PRAGUE.

Section I. — French Influence in Germany.

Section II. — Wallenstein's Attempt to dictate Peace.

Section III. — Resistance to Wallenstein's Plans.

Section IV. — Assassination of Wallenstein.

Section V. — Imperialist Victories and the Treaty of Prague.

CHAPTER X. THE PREPONDERANCE OF FRANCE.

Section I. — Open Intervention of France.

Section II. — Spanish Successes.

Section III. — The Struggle for Alsace.

Section IV. — French Successes.

Section V. — Aims and Character of Richelieu.

Section VI. — More French Victories.

CHAPTER XI. THE END OF THE WAR.

Section I. — Turenne's Strategy.

Section II. — The Treaty of Westphalia.

Section III. — Condition of Germany.

Section IV. — Continuance of the War between France and Spain.

INDEX.

An Important Historical Series. EPOCHS OF HISTORY.

PREFACE.

Table of Contents

If the present work should appear to be written for more advanced students than those for whom most if not all the other books of the series are designed, the nature of the subject must be pleaded in excuse. The mere fact that it relates exclusively to Continental history makes it unlikely that junior pupils would approach it in any shape, and it is probably impossible to make the very complicated relations between the German states and other European nations interesting to those who are for the first time, or almost the first time, attempting to acquire historical knowledge. Every history, to be a history, must have a unity of its own, and here we have no unity of national life such as that which is reflected in the institutions of England and France, not even the unity of a great race of sovereigns handing down the traditions of government from one generation to another. The unity of the subject which I have chosen must be sought in the growth of the principle of religious toleration as it is adopted or repelled by the institutions under which Germany and France, the two principal nations with which we are concerned, are living. Thus the history of the period may be compared to a gigantic dissolving view. As we enter upon it our minds are filled with German men and things. But Germany fails to find the solution of the problem before it. Gradually France comes with increasing distinctness before us. It succeeds where Germany had failed, and occupies us more and more till it fills the whole field of action.

But though, as I have said, the present work is not intended for young children, neither is it intended for those who require the results of original research. The data for a final judgment on the story are scattered in so many repositories that the Germans themselves have now discovered that a complete investigation into one or other of the sections into which the war naturally falls, is sufficient work for any man. There must surely, however, be many, as well in the upper classes of schools as in more advanced life, who would be glad to know at second hand what is the result of recent inquiry in Germany into the causes of the failure of the last attempt, before our own day, to constitute a united German nation. The writer who undertakes such a task encounters, with his eyes open, all the hazards to which a second-hand narrative is liable. His impressions are less sharp, and are exposed to greater risk of error than those of one who goes direct to the fountain head. He must be content to be the retailer rather than the manufacturer of history, knowing that each kind of work has its use.

Not that the present book is a mere collection of other men's words. If I have often adopted without much change the narrative or opinions of German writers, I have never said any thing which I have not made my own, by passing it through my own mind. To reproduce with mere paste and scissors passages from the writings of men so opposed to one another as Ranke, Gindely, Ritter, Opel, Hurter, Droysen, Gfrörer, Klopp, Förster, Villermont, Uetterodt, Koch, and others, would be to bewilder, not to instruct. And in forming my own opinions I have had the advantage not merely of being in the habit of writing from original documents, but of having studied at least some of the letters and State papers of the time. I have thus, for example, been able, from my knowledge of the despatches of Sir Robert Anstruther, to neglect Droysen's elaborate argument that Christian IV. took part in the war through jealousy of Gustavus Adolphus; and to speak, in opposition to Onno Klopp, of the persistence of the Dukes of Mecklenburg in the support which they gave to the King of Denmark.

More valuable than the little additional knowledge thus obtained is the insight into the feelings and thoughts of the Catholic princes gained by a very slight acquaintance with their own correspondence. To start by trying to understand what a man appears to himself, and only when that has been done, to try him by the standard of the judgment of others, is in my opinion the first canon of historical portraiture; and it is one which till very recent times has been more neglected by writers on the Thirty Years' War than by students of any other portion of history.

My teachers in Germany from whom I have borrowed so freely, and according to the rules of the series, without acknowledgment in foot-notes, will, I hope, accept this little book, not as an attempt to do that which they are so much better qualified to execute, but as an expression of the sympathy which an Englishman cannot but feel for the misfortunes as well as the achievements of his kindred on the Continent, and as an effort to tell something of the by-gone fortunes of their race to those amongst his own countrymen to whom, from youth or from circumstances of education, German literature is a sealed book.

I have only to add that the dates are according to the New Style. Ten days must be deducted to bring them in accordance with those used at the time in England.

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